FREDONIA, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's a really exciting day for people in Fredonia. After months of filming and waiting, everyone can now watch this small town's makeover take the national stage.
"When you're from a small town you don't think you get chances like this so it's kind of shocking to be from a small area and get some help," said Mike Plaza, Owner of Nyce and Clean Auto Detailing on Main St. He'll be the focus of episode one.
Plaza says the hosts of the show gave his shop a total makeover. They re-did the floors, put up new lights and bought him all new equipment.
They also gave him some advice. He was worried about his business when the pandemic hit, but the show's hosts suggested he see this as an opportunity to offer a new service, by helping people clean and disinfect their cars. He's calling this experience a blessing.
"I came up from nothing, so they helped out," said Plaza.
After the changes, Plaza says business is steady and in the future, he hopes to expand his business throughout WNY and eventually around the country.
This is the small business revolution's fifth season, but it's first time featuring businesses surviving a global pandemic. For the first month or so they filmed in person, but when the pandemic hit, they had to make some changes. All production went remote.
"We used technology in pretty phenomenal ways, you'll see in the episodes, we had a few times we would have business owners 'in the room' with us, but in these large screens," said host Amanda Brinkman.
Business owners and show hosts would do video chat meetings to track their progress. Show hosts Brinkman and Ty Pennington still provided marketing and financial resources for business owners to use.
Brinkman says helping these businesses thrive during the pandemic will have a ripple effect on the community.
"We see Fredonia just kind of taking that momentum and continuing to build from there and hopefully being an example to other communities that when you invest in your small businesses, when you have a strong small business core an entire town can thrive," said Brinkman.
The village is holding a celebration and watch party at vineyards golf course at 5:30. They set up socially distant golf carts for people to watch safely.
You can stream the show at home on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or on Smallbusinessrevolution.org.
